Ji-min

Seven years of sacrifice, Five years of marriage. Nova gave up everything for Jace - her dreams, her education, her finances, and her dignity just to support his ambitions. But his gratitude came in the form of betrayal, humiliation, and heartbreak. A shocking proposal to his assistant, Naomi, shattered Nova's heart and triggered a devastating miscarriage. Left with nothing, Nova vowed to reclaim her life and make Jace and his family pay for their cruelty. But Jace had one final move - draining their joint account and leaving her financially ruined. As she confronts him, a stunning revelation throws everything off balance. A powerful CEO, claiming to be her new husband, appears out of nowhere, sending Jace into a jealous frenzy. Will she be able to get the revenge she dreamed of? Or will she let the growing attraction for her new husband and the lingering feelings for her ex-husband stop her?

Blurb On the night Maddie caught her husband in bed with her step-sister, her life shattered completely. Instead of an apology, she was handed divorce papers and thrown out with nothing. When she thought it was over, his father found her. A powerful man with a calm voice and dangerous eyes. He gave her a choice—stay weak and return to the life that broke her, or marry him and take back control of her life. Maddie chose the second. Now she’s back in the same house that once humiliated her… but this time, she’s no longer the victim. She’s their stepmother.

I was in the office bathroom stall when I heard them trash-talking me. The intern I'd trained for three months whined, "She's a heartless witch—like a robot with zero brain cells." I was about to swing the door open when another voice jumped in, laughing. "Documents incomplete." "Receipts don't match." "No signature? Denied." "Seriously, we've all memorized the freaking rulebot's script!" Once they were gone, I headed back to my desk. The intern stormed in and slammed a fat stack of reimbursement forms in front of me. "Don't go on another power trip and block everyone's claims." I skimmed the obviously fake receipts. Normally, I'd tear into her. But this time, I just smiled. "My head's killing me. Can't read the fine print."

The Hawthorne Effect sets a story of a F.B.I survey into the criminal lives of certain individuals identified with a Crime Boss, Ron Druman whose identity the Bureau is unsure of. While the story goes on, a look into the immigrant lives of these individuals forced into crime is looked at.

From a stall in the office restroom, I overhear someone badmouthing me. Henry Fielder, the intern I've been mentoring for three months, grumbles, "The guy's got zero people skills. He's a total fossil, like a robot stuck in one mode." I'm about to push the door open and jump in when someone laughs and piles on. "The paperwork is incomplete. The receipts aren't compliant. I can't reimburse it without a manager's signature. We could recite his canned empathy lines in our sleep!" Once they're gone, I quietly head back to my office. Later, Henry drops a thick stack of expense reports onto my desk. "Quit waving the rulebook and rejecting everyone's reimbursements." I skim the fake receipts, and for once, I don't call him out. Instead, I give a thin smile and say, "I have a headache. I can't make out the words."

The day Kris Flynn forced me to sign the divorce papers, a self-destruction system wired itself into my brain. The system ordered, [Slap him hard. Then, tell him to get out.] It startled me. Kris was ruthless by nature. If I dared to get in the way of him getting back together with his first love, he would make my life a living hell. Unfortunately, the system threatened me. [If you don’t start sabotaging your life this instant, you’ll die right now.] Without any choice, I slapped him. Fear overtook me as soon as I did it. I bolted straight out of the house. Then, the system gave me a command to smash a police car by the roadside. I was convinced the system was trying to get me killed. However, after I shattered the police car’s side mirror, I realized something. It was not my life that the system wanted me to ruin.